Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!decvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!hqda-ai!merlin
From: merlin@hqda-ai.UUCP (David S. Hayes)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: What is SLIP?
Summary: Sun should (but does not) support SLIP
Message-ID: <663@hqda-ai.UUCP>
Date: 12 Feb 88 15:18:38 GMT
References: <325089.880211.JBVB@AI.AI.MIT.EDU> <41751@sun.uucp>
Organization: Army AI Center, Pentagon
Lines: 29

In article <41751@sun.uucp>, guy@sun.uucp (Guy Harris) writes:
> We don't have it now; I don't expect it to be officially supported
> in the next release, but Rick does have a version that can, I
> believe, be put into current SunOS releases, and I expect there
> will be versions to put into future releases.  It may end up in a
> future release, but I don't know one way or the other.
> 
> Guy Harris  	{ihnp4, decvax, seismo, decwrl, ...}!sun!guy
> guy@sun.com (or guy@sun.arpa)

     Sun should be adding this.  Yes, there is a SLIP that runs on
Suns.  It was "solarized" by Chris Torek at the University of
Maryland.  I have tried it, and it does work.

     The problem is that in a binary-only Sun release, there is
no way to support a "disconnect-interface" procedure.  This
results in a kernel crash if the remote end goes away.  With a
dedicated hardwire line, that's not too much of a problem, but it
can be a real pain when you've got some intervening hardware.

     Sun should add a full SLIP, including disconnect,
immediately.  The code is already available from Chris Torek,
including the disconnect business.  For a company that claims that
"The network is the computer," here's an opportunity to put that
motto into practice.

-- 
David S. Hayes, The Merlin of Avalon	PhoneNet:  (202) 694-6900
UUCP:  *!uunet!cos!hqda-ai!merlin	ARPA:  ai01@hios-pent.arpa